No Blank Check for Wall Street

Once again, Congress is being forced to walk the plank. George Bush is demanding a blank check. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is demanding a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. And, they say, Democrats in Congress must deliver both by Friday, Sept. 26 — or else.

Baloney! Democrats should respond by simply saying: No, no, no! They gave Bush a blank check after Sept. 11, 2001, in the Patriot Act. They gave him another blank check for the war in Iraq. They should not betray American taxpayers by giving him another one now, for Wall Street.

Democrats should tell the president and Paulson: No Blank Check and no Bailout. Period. We will not even consider voting for it unless … unless there’s some real relief included for working Americans and unless there are some tough new rules and regulations for Wall Street.

For starters:

* No CEO of any company we taxpayers bail out should be able to make more than the president of the United States.

* No golden parachutes should be allowed for executives of Lehman Brothers, Freddie, Fannie, Merrill Lynch, AIG or other failed financial institutions.

* Homeowners about to lose their homes should get their mortgages bought down to a level they can afford.

* There should be tough new limits on how much interest banks can charge on credit cards.

* And a percentage of bailout funds should go directly to states and cities to trigger new construction projects and new jobs.

And that’s just for starters.

Bailouts are bad public policy. But if Congress is going to bail out anybody, they should bail out all Americans — and not just the crooks on Wall Street.

Visit Mr. Press’s website at billpressshow.com.